The original Mazda Miata changed the world. Think about it: When the Miata was first shown at the Chicago auto show in February 1989, the small, affordable roadster was dead. Asthmatic, unreliable, shoddily built British sports cars like MGs and Triumphs were past their sell-by date by the end of the 1970s. Any Alfa Romeo Spyder or Fiat X1/9 outside California and the Sunbelt states was quietly rusting to oblivion.

But within a decade of the delicate, delightful Miata driving straight out of Mazda showrooms and into our hearts, BMW had produced the Z3, Mercedes-Benz the SLK, and Porsche the Boxster. And a dozen other automakers, from GM to Peugeot to Honda, had small convertibles in production or under consideration. We can thank the Miata for inspiring many of them (though we'll take a pass on the Mercury Capri).

With the second-generation Miata in 1998, Mazda achieved something few automakers ever manage when reinventing an icon: The lively, tactile personality of the original made the transition virtually unchanged. It certainly helped that many of the key elements of the original Miata--engine, basic body structure, packaging--were carried over. By May 2000, total Miata sales had topped 532,000 units worldwide, making it the best-selling two-seat convertible of all time.

All of which explains why few cars beyond, say, the next Porsche 911 and any new Ferrari carry the weight of expectation of the third-generation Miata, especially as this car is brand new from the tires up. The only carryover part is the circular side repeater lamp on European-specification models; for the U.S., even the name is new: MX-5. Automakers are notoriously reluctant to mess with success, so little wonder senior Mazda execs were wearing slightly nervous smiles during our ride-and-drive program in Hawaii. Mazda design chief Moray Callum summed it up: "This is our icon. This is our Mustang, our 911. We've created a monster." He paused, then smiled: "But it's a nice monster to have."If none of the Miata hardware has been retained, Mazda has attempted to transfer the software via a process it calls "Kansei Engineering." Decode the corporate psychobabble, and you'll see what Mazda means is intangible values such as "fun" and "beauty" have been given greater weight during the development process than traditional engineering indices such as 0-to-60 times and horsepower. Sounds like an interesting idea, but engineers, being what they are, can't help but try to quantify the unquantifiable: At one point during the technical presentation, deputy program manager Tetsuo Fujitomi explained how a test driver was fitted with 42 sensors to measure the concept of "nimbleness" by logging muscle loadings during driving.